Boro’s ice cool team are not feeling the heat, insists chilled defender George Friend.

As the stakes rise going into the promotion run-in, there has been tangible tension at times in the Riverside Stadium.

The closing stages of the 1-0 derby defeat to Leeds and the frantic finale of the scrappy midweek 1-0 win over Bolton have been nail-biting stuff.

But cool left-back Friend says the players are not feeling the jitters - although he understands why supporters are.

“The tension is bound to mount a bit around a club the closer you get to the finishing line but that is the same for all teams,” he said. “But honestly, the players aren’t feeling it.

“I’ve heard people say they are getting nervous because Boro have had ‘a wobble’.

“But since Christmas we’ve had a lot of tough games, a mixture of games against top teams and bottom teams and in the FA Cup too and we’ve come through that run in good shape and in second place and we’re proud of that.

“In the league we’ve only lost one game in 10 and in that one we dominated and created chances and should have won.

“If that’s what counts as ‘a wobble’ these days then yes, we’ve had ‘a wobble’ but I’ll willingly take that.

“It certainly isn’t something to be getting nervous about.

“For the players there isn’t any nerves. Against Bolton we were one up and in the final stages they were lumping the ball forward and in that situation there is always a little bit of tension but we coped, we dealt with it, we got the points. We weren’t particularly nervous.”

But the astute defender understands that for fans the pressure is mounting as the season comes to the boil.

“Yes, I appreciate there are probably some nerves among the fans right now but that is just because the whole of Teesside wants this so much,” he said.

“The supporters want promotion - we all want promotion too - and when you are so determined to achieve something and when you have such a strong emotional involvement in getting that success, it is bound to bring out some nerves.

“That’s only natural. But if the fans are nervous I don’t think we sense that too much on the pitch.

“There’s bound to be a build-up of nerves in the crowd as the stakes get higher and we reach the finish line but we won’t let it affect us on the pitch.”

Boro go to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday looking to keep the pace up at the top.

A very direct Wednesday beat Boro 3-2 at the Riverside in August and that is a great incentive for revenge.

“They bullied us here but we learned a lot in that game,” added Friend.

“We reacted well. We tend to when there are setbacks.

“We were disappointed Leeds won to do the double over us and we have no intention of letting anyone else do that.

“So we’ll be going there to put things right and get the points to keep the momentum going.”